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Shaker Candle Stand; The process part 1

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

It all starts with rough lumber, and the typical milling processes; jointing 1 face, jointing 1 edge, plane opposite face and rip to width. Repeat. With this particular piece there was the added step of re-sawing material, which is simply cutting one thick piece of lumber on the band saw into 2 or 3 thinner pieces, resulting in a greater yield from each board foot. Once all the work pieces are roughly milled to proper thickness, they are allowed to acclimate in the shop for about a week. This gives the wood time to equalize in moisture content and release any internal stresses that may be present.

The first component of this piece that I construct is the pedestal. Turning is not an element that has been present in much of my recent work, so this process took a little while since I was being extra careful. Once I got the feel for the tools again, it was just like riding a bike. I start by putting the blank in the lathe and just turning it perfectly round. I then creating an exact profile of the pedestal on a piece of 1/8″ hardboard, which shows all of the diameters and where each major profile transition occurs. At each of these transitions, I use the parting tool and a pair of calipers to sneak up on the final diameter. After this step, the piece is a cylinder with 1/8″ grooves cut to specific diameters along its length (see the pictures, it will make more sense). Next, I work the piece to blend all of the differing diameters into the desired shape, using the transitional points as a guide. Once the shape is acceptable, its on to sanding, and lots of it! Even without having turned in a while I was quite pleased with the outcome!

I next worked the legs. These are made from 3/4″ material and cut out on the small bandsaw . I make a template of the leg shape out of some 1/4″ plywood and clean it up to meet the desired shape. I then trace the shape on to the stock 3 times, then head to the bandsaw. I cut them out slightly over sized then flush trim them at the router table with a template that I previously made to match the profile. These will later receive final clean up with hand tools.

Thats all for now. Next we’ll cut the joinery for the legs!
-NWB

Tags: maple, turning
Posted in Projects | 1 Comment »

Building a Long board with Gordon.

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Over the past couple weeks Gordon and I have been plugging away on a project together. It has been a lot of fun working WITH somebody else in the shop! It is rare that I get to share my enjoyment of woodworking with others in this capacity. Often times it is only shared with finished products, not throughout the many steps of the process.

Anyways, Gordon got the idea to build a long board from searching around the web. Surprisingly there is a wealth of information on this topic. After we both did some reading, we determined the best procedure and approximate shape/design for the board. The trucks and wheels were ordered off the internet and arrived in about a week.

The first step was to determine the what woods to use. We ended up with, from left to right, red birch, tiger maple, cherry, tiger maple and red birch. The color differences of each wood will really pop once we get some finish on it.

Next we had to begin the joinery. For this, a regular glue joint would probably be plenty strong but since this will have abnormal loads from the rider’s weight I wanted another structural component. So for this we opted for the Festool Domino. This is a tool used to cut small mortises perfectly sized to fit their manufactured tenons. You can see on the right a number of the mortises that will accept the Domino tenons. Once glue is applied to the edges and the Dominoes, these joints should withstand any forces applied to them.

Next we clamped the 5 pieces of wood together and allowed the glue to cure. A few days later we took the clamps off and then began to clean up the both faces of the board. We did this first with the jointer to get once flat face, and then planer to get a parallel face and uniform thickness. In between passes at the planer we slowly crept up on the thickness by standing on the board supported by two pieces of wood. This gave us an idea of how the board would flex under a person’s weight once the trucks and wheels were installed. Long boards are meant to have a certain amount of flex to assist in turning and also ride comfort. We planned it down just under 3/4″ which we felt was appropriate.

Once the thickness had been determined, we moved on to the shape of the board. For this, we first drew the shape we liked on a scrap of MDF, then cut it out and cleaned it up. This becomes a template for us to use when we flush trim the long board with the router. We traced this template and then Gordon roughly cut out the shape on the final product leaving about 1/8″ from the line. Then the template was clamped to the board and routed flush.

After the cuts are routed flush we had a lot of time hand planing all surfaces flat and clean. Once we were satisfied with the surface we moved on to round over all the edges like a normal skateboard.

The board is now in the finishing room. The scheduled finish has 3 steps; boiled linseed oil, dewaxed shellac and water based lacquer. We’re hoping to taker her for a test drive this weekend.

Thanks for reading! - NWB

Tags: cherry, long board, red birch, tiger maple
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Compass Rose inlay in table top

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

All Cleaned up!

Lately I have been working on a new piece and I am refining the production process to possibly to a small batch of these in the future. The table has been complete for a few weeks, but after getting motivated by a fellow woodworker I decided to try my hand at decorative inlay. I may not have started with an easy design but, I sure enjoyed the challenge I have always been drawn to the design of any compass rose. I have chosen a 16 point compass rose. For me they have a form that is quite graceful yet bold. Keep in mind that all the material here is SOLID WOOD that I have milled to create this design.

You’ll have to forgive me for the lack of pictures with this first bit of work, things were working SO well that I forgot to pick up the camera… It all starts with the bandsaw, I cut a number of veneers from larger stock. I cut these very thin pieces of wood at about 3/32″ thick then sand them smooth. Next I cut the veneers into triangles that have a 22.5 degree angle on them, and in order to make the full circle I need 8 of them. These pieces are then all glued together to look similar to a “pinwheel”. Then through the process of many angled cuts with a marking knife, and some more glue ups we end up with the compass rose you see above running through the drum sander. It measures roughly 6″ in diameter.

Marking knife tracing shape.

Next the rose is laid out on the table top in order to determine its final location and orientation. Once I like where it is, I tape it down to the table top and begin to scribe around it with a marking knife. Once I have gone all the way around the 16 pointed rose, the tape is removed and we begin to remove the material from the table. This is done by, first taking the marking knife and making the previous cuts more pronounced; then using a chisel to pare away material on the inside of the shape up to the cutlines.

parring away up to knife line

This creates a “shoulder” that will ultimately butt up against the edge of the inlay. This processes continues around the whole shape and until every where it is about 1/16″ below the surface of the table top. It is important to keep these shoulders very crisp as and imperfections in them will show up later once things are in place and the glue has dried.

Routing out center waste

Next it is time to set up the router to hog out the majority of the waste material within the body of the inlay. The router equiped with a 1/8″ spiral upcuting bit set to cut 1/16″ deep. This makes short work of an otherwise time consuming task. But once the router does the dirty work we still need to do a little clean up around the edges.

After the recess we created is clean and true, its time to test fit the compass rose into the table top. With an hour or so of light sanding and some fancy chisel work we it fits very well! Time for the glue up!

For this glue up I used a slow setting plastic resign glue that works well for applications like this. First of all, it cures slowly

Compass Rose glued into table but awaiting clean up

allowing me time to “fuss” with the layout and configuration before the clamps are applied. But also, this glue is much better at filling gaps than typical yellow glue. So just in case there were a few spots where my cuts were not perfect, this glue would fill them. The glue up went great and you can see how it look right out of the clamps.

The next task is clean up. This was a task I might have complained about a year ago, but since my enlightenment to handplanes this task is simply a pleasure! The inlay is roughly 1/32″ proud of the table surface at this point; so, 10 minutes work with my Lie Nielsen No. 62 the whole surface is flush! Following this I pulled out my smoothing plan to take care of any tearout issues present. And here is what you get:

All Cleaned up!

The mahogany, tiger maple and flame birch really work well together and once they get a finish on them will really POP! I’ll post some pictures once the table is compolete

Thanks for reading

-NWB

: Compass Rose complete, final thickness.

: Finding the right layout (blue tape is holding the last piece while glue dries)

: Marking knife tracing shape.

: outline from knife

: parring away up to knife line

: ouline pared away

: Routing out center waste

: Routed out center section started

: Glued in place, awating cleanup

: Compass Rose glued into table but awaiting clean up

: Getting there.

: All Cleaned up!

Tags: inlay
Posted in Projects, around the house | 3 Comments »

A place to rest your head

Friday, August 14th, 2009

So I have started working on a bed for our house. The design has been a concept floating around in my head for some time now and it is great seeing it come to life. Due to size, the whole bed will actually be “knock-down” to help with future moves, storage ect. The first picture is the quick sketch I did on my white board.

Once I drew a full scale headboard leg, I transferred it to a piece of MDF. Next I cut out the MDF and finessed the shape; traced it onto the leg stock and cut it out. After that I flush trimmed the curved sections on the router table as shown in pictures. Since the leges are nearly 4 inches wide, this actually took 3 separate passes of the router with 2 different bits.

I saved the clean up of the flat sections of the legs for hand planes, so I could get more practice. Ever since my class in July at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of woodworking. Previously, I would have “blinders” on when it came to hand tools, but now I feel that is due mostly to lack of exposure and overwhelming amounts of mis-information. Having someone as knowledgeble and personable as Deneb Puchalski teach the class, was absolutely priceless! The biggest piece of information that I took from the class was an effiecient and effective technique to sharpen a plane iron. in the pictures you can see the copious amounts of shavings I am getting from my planes. Also take note of the whispy thin shavings sitting next to my new Lie-Nielsen No. 62, Low Angle Jack plane ( I have no self control… purchased after using one at the class). This plane was so amazingly accurate right out of the box, and with only 3 minutes of sharpening and honing it will made full width, full length cuts 1/1000th of an inch!

Anyways, back to the project… the next couple pictures show the shapes of the front and back legs. I think it will have very nice lines once the rails are completed. Next is a shot of the joiner marked out on one of the headboard legs. The mortises are roughly 1″ wide x 7″ tall.

Finally, a shot of the Shop Dog! His new thing when I’m working in the shop is to sit right there by the door and chew on his bone. It is endless hours of entertainment for him!

-NWB

: Conceptual design

: Flush triming the headboard legs

: Handplaining the headboard legs

: Lie-Nielsen No. 62 The nicest handtool I own!!!

: I made a mess.

: The flare of head and foot board legs

: All four legs

: Marked out Jointery

: SHOPDOG!!!!

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Catching up with some old projects

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

In the past week I have completed 2 more projects that have been on the bench for a couple weeks. Both have similar uses and both stem from necessity but each is a very distinct style to match its owner’s taste.

First, on Saturday I finished a red birch cabinet made to match the clients new kitchen. This cabinet was designed and built to fit into a very specific corner where commercially available cabinets would be difficult to meet the needs of the client. It is basic face-frame construction with a simple shaker style door and sprayed with a clear shellac finish. I enjoyed this project alot and it was a fun challange for me to make a piece for a specific installation location. This is far different from freestanding furniture which i typically build.

The other recently completed piece is for Toni and I. If any of you remember at the beginning of this blog some four months ago, I was working with my new Leigh D4R dovetail jig. The piece I showcased on that post is the birdseye maple and cherry coat rack organizer. This piece has variably spaced through dovetails for the case construction and sliding dovetails for the sheves (all mad e with the Leigh). The back panel is a tounge & groove cherry bead board. It also has a cherry “nosing” on the shelf and divider. The finish is sprayed shellac, which I am really falling in love with! I have been working on this piece here and there in between a few of the projects you’ve seen posted. It has been a long time coming, but its done and I am very please with it. We installed it last night and as you can see, we have begun using it already!

Check it out! Tell me what you think!

NWB

Tags: birdseye maple, cherry
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Bowfront Table: Complete!

Monday, May 18th, 2009

This is the final entry for the bowfront table since I completed it this weekend. I used “Figure 8’s” to fasten the top to the leg assembly. They are simply small metal pieces that are screwed down into the aprons and then up into the table top. These pieces allow for seasonal expansion and contraction of the top by not limiting the cross grain movement. The other pictures show the table fully assembled and the last two are including the finish. The finish I used on this piece is sprayed clear shellac andI am very happy with the result.

Well it has been a long road but I have finally finished the bowfront table. I am quite pleased with the results and had alot of fun with it. I look forward to seeing the piece in its permanent home!

Thanks for reading - NWB

: "Figure 8's" are used to secure the top to the leg assembly

: Final assembly, prior to finish

: Finished product

: Another finished shot

Tags: bowfront, cherry, table
Posted in Projects, bowfront table | 1 Comment »

Bowfront Table: Starting to look like something!

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Despite how busy our lives have been lately I am very pleased with my progress on the table! Here’s where we are:

I first took the front apron out of the bending form and did some cleaning up on it. The next task was to cut it to length and cut it’s tenons.

I used two different types of mortise and tenon joinery on this table. The first, which was used on the two front apron/leg connections is called an integral tenon. This is because the tenon itself is actually part of the apron. The second type I used is called a loose tenon. This was used in the remaining six apron/leg connections on the sides and back. The loose tenon is so called because the joint consists of two mortises (one in the leg and another in the apron) and a “loose” piece of wood that is inserted into both mortises creating a very strong joint. Both of these techniques are durable and will last the test of time, but sometimes I prefer the loose tenon because of its versatility and method of fabrication.

Now with all of the joinery cut, and after some finessing of each joint to proper fit, its time to get the first real glimpse at what the table will look like!

On to the dry fit. As you can see below it is coming together nicely and we are getting close to completion! Once I was satisfied with the fit of every mortise and tenon joint, I began gluing up the short side aprons with their corresponding two legs. I prefer to do my glue ups in stages because it prevents rushing and allows me to pay close attention to final fit of each joint. Last night I also planed the top to thickness and have it marked out ready to cut the front curve. I will not cut this curve until the rest of the table is completely glued up. Only one more glue up to go and some final sanding, we should be in the finishing room by the beginning of next week.

Hope you like it!

-NWB

: Fresh out of the bending form

: Cutting the front apron to length

: Integral tenon of the front apron

: Router and jig used to cut mortises

: Jig used to cut mortises in the legs

: Mortises in the legs cut with a router

: Prepared stock for the loose tenons

: Loose tenon stock after rounding the edges

: first complete dry fit

: Another view of the dryfit

Tags: bowfront, cherry, table
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Bowfront Table: bowfront glueup and shaping the legs

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

I made some great progress this weekend on the table. It started with constructing the bending form. First, I used a full size, scale drawing to cut out the shape of the front apron. I then cleaned that up by hand and began to cut the four other pieces that would make up the form. The form is made from MDF, each layer gets glued and screwed and then cleaned up with a flush trimming bit on the router table.

Once the form was done, I made a maple apron to practice the glue up. It worked perfect! So, I moved right into the cherry one. The glue I used for this task allow extra working time but it also requires 24 hrs to cure. Thus, the clamps were left on over night.

Now that the front apron is “baking” I went onto the legs. They are a standard design, tapered on two sides from 1.5″ down to 1″. The initial taper cut is done on the table saw with a jig. I then clean them up on the bench with a handplane.

I also got the other three aprons dimensioned and prepared for joinery; which will be my next task. These will be standard mortise and tenon joints.

Thanks for looking!

-NWB

: First layer of the bending form

: Glued and screwed.

: Then off to the router

: Laminates through the drum sander

: Hurry up and wait! 24 hr clamp time with this glue...

: Tapering the legs

: Cleaning up the tapers with the good 'ol Stanely No.5

: Legs after being cleaned up with the hand plane

Tags: bowfront, cherry, table
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Bowfront Table: cutting the laminates for the apron

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

The first step on this table will be to make the bent-wood lamination for the bowfront apron. Since everything else on this table hinges on this, I will complete it first and work from it.

marking gauge set at 3/16"

I prepared the stock for the apron to rough size, I then used my marking gauge to create a line to follow on the bandsaw.

Cutting a laminate on the bandsaw

After each cut on the bandsaw, I handplaned the surface of the next piece to eliminate extra sanding down the road. The picture below right you can see the difference in a bandsawn surface vs. the handplaned surface. These faces need to be clean and smooth in order to create a sufficent glue bond.

Cleaning up the cut face

Close up: shows the handplaned surface vs. the bandsawn

Here all of the cherry laminates are cut. They need to be run through the drum sander to clean up the one rough side in preparation for the glue up. Next I will build the bending form out of MDF. I will be doing a practice lamination on this one just to work out the kinks in the glue up process. So I have identical laminates ripped out of some tiger maple that will produce a similar apron.

laminates for the bowfront

More to come soon. This should be a productive weekend coming up!

-NWB

Tags: bowfront, cherry, table
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Bowfront Table: The beginning

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

Last weekend I took a trip to my lumber supplier and picked up the material for my next project. The piece will be a bow-front table made out of cherry sized specifically to fit the clients entry. I have added a couple of pictures of the raw stock that I will allow to acclimate for a week or so. The materials need to adjust to the environment of my shop to ease the milling process.

To be top of bow-front

I have also added a few of the Sketchup drawings that I did to give us an idea of the finished product. This drawing will also help me with joinery layout and a bending forms for the bow-front. Check them out and let me know what you think. Feel free to leave some comments and share your thoughts throughout the build!

-NWB